The style of Quaker consumption in British Colonial New Jersey: the link between religious beliefs and values and the archaeological record of the society of friends

This research focuses on the role of beliefs and values at domestic Quaker sites in British Colonial North America and their transformations through time. Evidence is drawn from building techniques, ceramic and glass tablewares, foodways as manifest through storage/preparation vessels and faunal remains, alcohol and tobacco-related objects, and materials related to dress and personal adornment. The aim of this research is to make substantial contributions to the study of Quakers, to the study of the influence of beliefs and values in colonial situations and past cultural traditions in general, and to the study of the rise and spread of eighteenth-century consumerism associated with the Industrial Revolution. Beliefs and values possess material manifestations. To link the material archaeological evidence to cultural ideals, this proposed research focuses on behavior which may be documented in the archaeological record. The full potential of the archaeological contribution to issues surrounding the varying degree of adherence to Quaker beliefs and values may be realized through consideration of all available types of material culture. An analytical focus on the style of consumption and technology is considered essential for the study of tenets, beliefs, and values in the archaeological record. The revival of archaeological theories of style is advocated as the primary means archaeologists have available to study the manifestation of beliefs, values, and the underlying ethos through variation in material culture. The revival of an archaeological focus on style enables a more full realization of the goals of social archaeology and the consideration of the significance of a research project at the higher scales of relevance: the scale of issues of importance in history and the social sciences in general, and the scale of the contribution research may render towards developing solutions to contemporary social problems.